[Couple Spotlight] ‘Its crystal clear we were created for one another,’ meet the Akinduros who share birthdays, attended same schools from primary to varsity

I was spellbound listening to Mr and Mrs Akinduro share their story on how they have unknowingly been following and getting close to each other almost from birth. 

Apart from sharing same birthday and month, which one can easily wave off as mere coincidence, however, these two always find themselves in same school and other cases same class from nursery, primary, secondary and even higher institution. That can’t be just coincidence, right? That was exactly what I thought, hearing them speak.

The funniest part of it all is their parents have never met nor knew themselves prior. And with this, I couldn’t help but believe it when they said their always been in same learning environment was was nature’s way of ensuring what was meant to be actually coming to be.

Both didn’t even take cognizance of this kind of strange development till they got admitted to same higher institution and also same faculty but different courses. They knew at that point that there was no need denying the obvious. They were soulmates. They started talking from their first year but never forced things.

They pulled the strings higher and started dating in 300L. Lo and behold, their parents had no objections whatsoever when they decided to meet them for the blessings. It’s been 10 years of solid friendship, love and beautiful family moments with these love birds.

Truly, the universe has a way of aligning what is meant to be to be no matter how long it takes and the Akinduros are a perfect testimony of that.

You don’t want to miss this superb love encounter as told by my special guests.

 

1. Can you take us back to how your love story started?

Mrs Akinduro: I can’t even put an exact description to how ours started. Can you imagine what it means to share same birthday and month with you partner? If that was not a thing, how about attending same schools as toddlers to even the university? Mind you sometimes, we find even find our selves in same classes sitting close to each other. But all that didn’t count early because we were kids and didn’t pay attention to that detail.

It wasn’t until we met again at the university that we knew this can no longer be treated as coincidence but love showing us it is here to stay.

Mr. Akinduro: Ours is a love story playing out as scripted by God. My wife and I have been unintentionally close to each other all our lives. We attended same schools from nursery to university. We couldn’t have ignored that kind of divine closeness. We had everything pointing in our direction that we were created for each other despite years of ignoring it. We thank God we finally embraced a divinely orchestrated union.

 

2. What was the moment you knew “this is the one”?

Mr Akinduro: That was after we met again in the university. Mind you, we were not so close back then in secondary school. So our choice of a university was not a shared knowledge. I had to go initiate a proper conversation with her on our first day seeing at the university recounting our journey together from nursery school. We bought knew we had come a long way and needed to take this to the desired heights.

Mrs Akinduro: Seeing ourselves together again at the university was something that struck a cord in us. We got close and obviously, even before we started dating, I knew this was my man.

 

3. How many years have you been together?

Both: Ten years. Dated four years and married for six years.

 

4. What has been your secret to keeping the spark alive all these years especially after the arrival of kids?

Mrs Akinduro: I can tell you for free that our kids have even strengthened our bond the more. We spend quality family time together and always share our unique love story with them.

Mr Akinduro: My wife and I have come a long way and that one itself is a spark. We’re never bored of reminiscing how we initially hesitated to give love a chance and how long we have to have finally done so. We also have regularly time outs as couple and as family with our children.

 

5. How do you both make each other feel special, even in small ways? What fun habits have stayed with you?

Mrs Akinduro: My husband never run short of my throw back pictures. I don’t actually know where he gets them. He bombards me with like two weekly on Thursdays with funny captions and thanks to him I now have like three albums that I have curated.

Mr Akinduro: My wife can be so unpredictable with surprises. From random orders of food and gifts to freshly cooked meal favourites, I can’t even keep up with her again. Her sweet handwritten notes does all the talking. I have them all stored up in my archives. She’s an amazing woman and I thank God for bringing her my way.

 

6. How do you handle disagreements or tough moments now, compared to your early years?

Both: Ego died the very day we exchanged marital vows. We communicate on even the slightest issues. That helps us to not carryover issues that should have been trashed.

 

7. What’s one thing your partner still does that melts your heart?

Mr Akinduro: Her silent prayers everyday (morning and night) even after our general devotion is golden to me. The family altar is intact just because of her because I can be lazy at times. She cares for the entire household like she’s getting paid handsomely for it. See I know with every breadth in me that I couldn’t have done it this well with another woman. She’s my most treasured gift on earth.

Mrs Akinduro: My husband is super romantic, I can’t even deny it. He has a fantastic way of calming the home when tension is high. When I run out of idea of keeping the children in check, he rightly steps in. How about his intermittent calls to check on my at work and the kids in school? Such an amazing man. I’ve never felt safe around a man like I do with my husband.

 

8. What was one of the biggest challenges you faced together, and how did you overcome it?

Mrs Akinduro: I think it has to be when we were saving up for our new house. We had to cut down on some expenses to make us achieve our aim faster. My husband felt he wasn’t doing enough and saw our sacrifice as his fault. But we reassured him of how genuine and rare of a man he is with a promise of our willingness to even make more sacrifices if the situation demanded. Thank God that phase didn’t last and it’s now in our past.

Mr Akinduro: We could have skipped that phase of our lives in it’s entirety but my wife won’t let me try taking a short cut. I wanted to take a loan to ease that burden on the family, but she stood vehemently against it. And trust me, we are better for it now because if not for her objection, we would still be repaying by now and what we temporarily ran away from would have confronted us in multiple folds. To my surprise, even the kids understood and never made us feel less of ourselves.

 

9. What advice would you give to younger couples hoping for a lasting marriage?

Mr Akinduro: No shortcut in life. Confront your fears with your partner. No secrets.

Mrs Akinduro: Be open minded and offer your shoulder as support at every given opportunity. Be active in your marital journey with your partner.

 

10. If you could sum up your marriage in one word or sentence, what would it be?

Both: God’s Grace!